SPINOZA: 1677 AND 1877. 225 



dom granted me on condition of not disturbing the established re- 

 ligion ; and then, again, the instruction I bestowed on youth would 

 hinder my own advance in philosophy. I have only succeeded in 

 procuring for myself a tranquil life by the renunciation of all kinds 

 of public teaching." He felt that his duty was to think. He thou<rht, 

 in fact, for humanity, whose ideas he forestalled by more than two 

 centuries. 



The same instinctive sagacity was carried by him into all the 

 relations of life : he felt that public opinion never permits a man to 

 be daring in two directions at once. Being a freethinker, he looked 

 upon himself as bound to live like a saint. But I am wrong in saying 

 this. Was not this pure and gentle life rather the direct expression of 

 his peaceful and lovable consciousness ? At that period the atheist 

 was pictured as a villain armed with daggers. Spinoza was through- 

 out his whole lifetime humble, meek, pious. His enemies w^ere ingenu- 

 ous enough to object to this : they would have liked him to live com- 

 formably to the conventional type, and, after the career of a demon in- 

 carnate, to die in despair. Spinoza smiled at this singular pretension, 

 and refused to oblige his enemies by changing his way of life. He 

 had warm friends; he showed himself courageous at need ; he protested 

 against popular indignation wherever he thought it unjust. Many 

 disappointments failed to shake his fidelity to the republican party ; 

 the liberality of his opinions w as never at the mercy of events. What, 

 perhaps, does him more honor still, he possessed the esteem and sincere 

 affection of the simple beings among whom he lived. Nothing is equal 

 in value to the esteem of the low^ly ; their judgment is almost always 

 that of God. To the w- orthy Van der Spycks he w^as evidently the very 

 ideal of a perfect lodger. " No one ever gave less trouble," was their 

 testimony given some years after his death to Colerus. " While in 

 the house he inconvenienced nobody ; he spent the best part of his 

 time quietly in his own room. If he chanced to tire himself by too 

 protracted meditation, he would come down-stairs and speak to the 

 family about any subject of common talk, even about trifles." In fact, 

 there could never have been a more affable inmate. He would often 

 hold conversations with his hostess, especially at the time of her con- 

 finements, as well as with the rest of the household when any sorrow 

 or sickness befell them. He would tell the children to go to divine 

 service, and, when they returned from the sermon, ask them how much 

 they remembered of it. He almost always strongly seconded what 

 the preacher had said. One of the persons he most esteemed was the 

 pastor Cordes, an excellent man and good expounder of the Script- 

 ures ; sometimes, indeed, he went to hear him, and he advised his 

 host never to miss the preaching of so able a man. One day his 

 hostess asked him if he thought she could be saved in the religion she 

 professed. "Your religion is a good one," he replied; "you shoxild 

 not seek any other, nor doubt that yours will procure salvation if, in 



VOL. XI. 15 



